Treasure

September 2012

Rochester, Minnesota

The precocious pony-tailed and red-haired freshman striker was starting to really piss off the two varsity defenders on her side. Five times in the first half of the scrimmage she had gotten free behind the seniors, or made them look stupid with her moves as she moved past them.

“REA!” The center midfielder with the blond ponytail called her best friend and teammate over during a break. Treasure, who had gone by Rea since elementary school, huddled with Jenny and her teammates as the coach talked to the Varsity players. The two freshmen at Rochester John Marshall were the only ones from their class still playing with the older students, the rest of their classmates having been sent to the Freshman team on another field. Jenny and Rea had played together for five years. Both showed the talent to be not just good but great players. Jenny’s growth spurt over the last year, to just under five-foot-ten, gave her an advantage in the air. The five-foot-four Rea was smaller but had great ball-handling skills and was faster than lightning. “Their left back can’t catch you. The next time I get the ball in our end, make a run for the right corner of the penalty area. Just stay onside,” she said as the coach whistled them out of the time out.

“They aren’t manning me up, so I’ll move towards the middle then break to the corner,” she said with a smile before they bumped fists and got into place. The goal kick went to the left side, and Rea worked her way between the defenders as the midfielder brought the ball up towards the center line. The zone defenders lost her across the middle, and a quick look at Jenny had her moving to fill the hole she created by running towards the center back. Rea got the ball, pushing it out to a streaking Jenny down the right side while she ran the gap between the center back and the striker.

She didn’t need to raise her hand, she was quick, and Jenny was precise. The return pass was right on target, and after controlling it she calmly fired the ball into the net from twelve yards out.

The coach blew the whistle and went to chew out his defenders while Rea’s team celebrated her goal. This was only a scrimmage, but they were beating the Varsity starters and it felt damn good. “Nice shot, Rea,” Jenny said.

“Thanks Jenny,” she said as they jogged back to the middle. “Do you think we can make the team?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Becky was all-conference at right striker last year, and she’s a senior. There’s so many good players here, but if they can’t handle us, they have to let us stay, right?”

“Right!”

The two went back into position as the older players kicked off. Working the ball around the top of the penalty area, Jenny stepped in front of a pass and started the counterattack. The moment she was clear, her left foot sent a long ball curling down the right side of the field.

Rea had been moving slowly along the back line, moving away from the frustrated left back, and as soon as she saw Jenny wind up she broke down the right side. Her timing was perfect, the offside flag stayed down, and she was racing towards the ball as it bounced along the grass. The goalkeeper started to come out, then thought better of it as the ball slowed. Rea controlled it with the first touch when it was still ten yards from the penalty area and steered it towards goal when she felt her hair get pulled, hard, and she fell backwards to the ground. She rolled a few times, stopping and glaring at the senior who had pulled her down on a breakaway. “What the hell, Denise?”

“Stay down, Rea. You don’t belong here, go back with the kids on the Freshman team.”

Rea jumped to her feet as their teammates gathered around them. “Don’t get pissed off at me because I’m beating you like a drumline.”

The coach was blowing his whistle, running over from the far sidelines, trying to stop this before it got out of hand. “PENALTY!” He ran over and looked at Denise. “That would get you a red card in a game, Williams. It has no place on our fields. NEWMAN! Take her place.”

Rea smiled as the coach walked away with the ball to set up the penalty kick. “Thanks for the goal, Denise. Have fun on junior varsity.”

“BITCH! You’re not wanted on this team, you’ve never been wanted! You're nothing, you were worthless then and you're worthless now!”

Rea brought her hands to her head as a sudden pain knifed through her temples. “TEACH HER RESPECT,” the voice said in her head told her. The voice always came with pain, she didn’t like it, and she didn’t like what it was telling her. For the last year she had been ignoring it, but with each month the pain got worse. She looked up, suddenly dizzy, and stumbled back a little into her teammates.

“Don’t cry, carrot-top,” another girl said.

Denise laughed. “Fucking trash by the side of the road, never worth keeping.” The other seniors joined her, which only made the pain worse.

Suddenly, Rea’s posture changed. Her hands moved in front of her, and she crouched slightly before launching herself at the taller and bigger defender. Her left hand grabbed her throat as her momentum knocked the bigger girl onto her ass. Rea followed her down, her right fist pounding the smugness out of her face with blow after blow. She ignored the scratches on her face and arms as the girl tried to defend herself. She didn’t hear the screams or the whistles as she beat her tormentor into a pulp. When her right arm was grabbed, she lunged forward and bit down onto her shoulder.

Denise screamed in pain as Rea’s teeth broke skin and tore into the muscles. Rea was growling, shaking her head, and it took four people to tear her off and subdue her. She thrashed on the ground, the blood on her face and shirt mixing with the red stripes on her white practice uniform.

As soon as it came, it was over. The pain was gone, she stopped struggling, and passed out.

“CALL 911,” the coach said as he held a towel over Denise’s mangled shoulder.

The team stood around, wondering what the hell just happened, as Jenny knelt by her friend and cried.

State Patrol Captain Mark Olson put the call logs from the previous night into the outbox before moving on to the next thing on his pile. The adoption of Treasure had pushed him to find a job with less danger and more predictable hours, and he had made Lieutenant six years ago and had been transferred to the Rochester patrol headquarters. When the Commander had retired last year, Mark was the choice to replace him.

They moved from Duluth to Rochester, home of the famous Mayo Clinic, and bought a walkout rambler in a quiet neighborhood. The weather was better, and Dawn was able to keep her license up by taking extra shifts at the clinic while Treasure was in school or at night. Their lives had been truly blessed, at least until this point and this phone call. His cellphone rang, it was Dawn’s number. “Hi baby, what’s going on?”

“TREASURE HAS BEEN ARRESTED,” Dawn yelled as she tried to catch her breath.

“What? Where?”

“I’m going to the hospital now, she attacked a student and they say she’s hurt too. You need to meet me there NOW.”

Shit. “I’m on my way.” He grabbed his hat and took his sidearm out of the drawer, sliding it into his holster. “Family emergency,” he told the desk Sergeant as he ran out through the office. Jumping into his cruiser, he hit the lights and roared out onto Highway 52 towards the emergency room.

He parked in the law enforcement parking out front of the emergency room, next to the city police cruiser, and walked into the lobby. He could see Dawn on the far side of the office, sitting on a chair with her head in his hands, and he moved quickly to his side. “Where’s Treasure,” he asked.

“They won’t let us see her yet,” she said. Before he could ask, a door opened, and the Principal came out accompanied by an officer.

“What’s going on, Bob?” Mark knew the officer well, they had trained together, and the look on his face said everything.

“She’s under arrest for felony assault consummated by battery,” Bob said. "Come on, I'll take you to see her."

Inside the examination room, a terrified Treasure was secured with heavy leather straps to an examination table while a doctor cleaned the scratches on her face and dressed the wounds on her fist. The officers had already taken pictures, not that there was any doubt as to what had happened.

When she had regained consciousness, just in time to see a bloody and beaten Denise being loaded onto a gurney, she had thrown up all over herself. The assistant coach wiped it off with a towel, since she couldn’t move her arms with the handcuffs already on. Her teammates were looking at her with anger and disgust, and even her best friend looked at her with fear in her eyes. “Why?”

Jenny waited for an answer, and Rea didn’t have one.

She couldn’t remember the fight.

The officer in the room watched her carefully to make sure she didn’t lash out at the staff, but no one said anything to her that was not related to her injuries. She focused on the conversation in the hallway. Since she was twelve, her hearing had been better than anyone’s, and that was a curse in her mind. The other students could go through the day, ignorant of the jabs and jokes at their expense, the cause of the sudden laughter a mystery to them. Rea heard every whispered conversation, even from across the room. A door was nothing.

“There was an incident on the soccer field between your daughter and another student. The Coach said she was pulled down from behind by her hair, and the two exchanged words. He thought it was over when Treasure attacked her teammate viciously. She choked her, punched her a number of times in the face, then bit her shoulder.”

“Bit her?” Mark sounded shocked.

“Rather badly, she was taken away in the first ambulance. She’s in surgery right now.”

“Oh Jesus,” Dawn said.

“The coaches and teammates managed to separate the two, then Treasure blacked out. She was still out when the first officer arrived but woke up a minute later. She threw up and says she doesn’t know what happened,” the principal said.

“Doesn’t know? Like she doesn’t know why she did it?”

The officer picked it up. “No, she says she doesn’t remember any of it. The last thing she remembers was standing up after she was pulled to the ground.”

The doctor came out of the room, and everyone turned to her. “How is she?”

“She appears to be all right, but I have some concerns,” she said. “She reported getting a sudden headache and memory loss, and she passed out followed by throwing up. I didn’t see any other indicators of a head injury, but it’s likely she had a concussion from hitting the ground. We are sending her for an MRI, to rule out that and other potential issues.”

“Oh god, my baby,” Dawn said.

“I’m also requesting a psychiatric consult,” he said. “She has no history of violent outbursts? Anger issues?”

“No, she’s been a great kid,” Mark said. “This was the last thing I ever expected to hear.”

“That is even more reason to have her talk to someone,” he said.

“Can we see her?”

“Of course. She is under arrest, so the restraints have to stay in place and the officer won’t leave the room, but you have a few minutes until the MRI is available.”

He walked off, and Bob put his hand on Mark’s shoulder. “Take a moment to collect yourselves, she’s scared to death in there.” Mark took a deep breath, took Dawn’s hand in his and knocked.

Mark’s heart fell as he opened the door to see his Treasure strapped to the table in a hospital gown, tears rolling down her face into the gauze bandage on the right side of her face. “Daddy,” she cried.

He crossed the room and engulfed her in a hug, Dawn at his side. “It will be all right, honey. We’re here.”

“Daddy…” Her sobs were causing her to get hickups now. “They are looking at me like I’m a killer. I wouldn’t do that! I don’t even remember what happened!”

Dawn put her hand on the side of her head, her own tears flowing. “It’s going to be all right, my baby. We’ll get through this.”

They comforted her until she was transferred to a gurney, her wrists restrained, and pushed out the door to Radiology. Mark held a sobbing Dawn to his side as the doors closed.

Their nightmare was just beginning.